When I signed up for
Biketours.com’s guided eight-day bike tour of Slovenia, I was expecting
sprawling landscapes and quaint villages. What I wasn’t expecting was to be
surprised each day by some unique attraction – the most mind-boggling caves I
have ever seen (and most thrilling train ride ever!), a castle built into the
face of a mountain with a cave as a secret back door, the horse farm where the
original Leipzaners we
associate with Vienna were bred and trained,
as well as the surprises we chanced upon, like getting a tour of a centuries
old water mill by the family.
I wasn’t expecting to
find myself at the intersection of a multiplicity of cultures (flowers hoisted
high on a pole to announce a wedding), or thrown back into history. The
picturesque landscapes were like icing on a fabulously rich cake.

This actually was the
second week of my Biketours.com European biking experience. I had decided to
fly into Marco Polo International Airport in Venice to meet up with this guided
tour that started in Slovenia’s capital city, Ljubljana, so I thought, it’s a far way to go for only
eight-days, so why not stop in Venice? And then I thought, Why not see if Biketours.com
offers another biking trip that I can link together?

I found a
Venice-Trieste-Istria itinerary, operated by FunActiv, that ended on the day this
“Emerald Tour of Slovenia’s Gems”, operated by another local operator, Helia,
would start, but it was self-guided. I thought about doing it on my own, but
sent out an invitation and successfully recruited my son to join me. (Thank
goodness, because I think I would have been lost and still wandering around the
wilderness if I had to do it on my own.) The Venice bike trip ended in Istria, in
Croatia, and, after a search on Rome2Rio.com, I found a bus (Flixbus.com) that
would take me into Ljubljana right on time for the
start of the second tour (and then from Piran, where that trip ended, back to
Marco Polo International Airport in Venice).

It is very interesting
to compare the experience of a self-guided tour, with the guided tour.

In the first place,
the guided tour of Slovenia averages 26 miles a day and each day; our
self-guided trip averages 50 miles a day (though we could have shortened the
daily rides by taking train or ferry), so there is more time for sightseeing on
the guided trip which is organized around sightseeing – that is, getting to
sites in a timely way (our leader, Vlasta, our wonderful guide, also takes
votes to see whether we want to detour to take in some attraction, whether we
want her to make dinner reservations for us at a restaurant).

On
our self-guided trip, we are able to set out from the hotel after a leisurely
breakfast and stop for lunch when we want and spend as much time lingering in a
village but when we come to a cave in time for a 5 pm English-language tour
with still an hour to ride before reaching our destination, we don’t take the
chance and so miss an opportunity. We also miss out on visiting the
castle of Miramare high above the Bay of Grignano just outside of Trieste
(which has a Manet exhibit) because we didn’t know better.

On this Slovenia bike
tour, we ride as a group – Vlasta says we ride only as fast as the slowest,
that one of us will be the “sweep” riding at the back. We don’t even have our
own maps or cue sheets, but follow the leader. I am only a little frustrated
because I have to ask to stop every time I want to take a photo, but it all
works out.

We are informed
in advance that the terrain is flat and downhill from Ljubljana to Postojna,
from where it gets a bit hilly (Vlasta says it is “Slovenia flat – rolling hills.
From Stanjel, the cycling is downhill on the way to the coast.

Most of the ride
is on quiet roads, 25% on roads shared with traffic, 3% on dirt or gravel roads
and 2% on dedicated bicycle paths. The tour is appropriate for hybrid and road
bikes.

Day 1: Arrival to Ljubljana

It is pouring rain as I make my
way from the Porec Hotel in Porec, Croatia, where my eight-day, self-guided
Venice-Trieste-Istria bike trip has ended, to the bus station directly behind
it, and I am grateful that it is not a day I would be biking. I am pretty proud
of myself for having figured out the Flixbus connection – convenient and
inexpensive (after having looked online at Rome2Rio.com for how to get between
the two cities).

At the bus station in Ljubljana,
Slovenia’s capital, I use my GPS to figure out what public bus to take to get
to my hotel in the old city, and after wasting time waiting on the wrong side
of the street, hop on the bus. The driver doesn’t understand me but a fellow on
the bus helps me figure out where my stop is in the Old City, and I find the hotel
just a short walk from the bus.

I have the afternoon to explore
Ljubljana, and miraculously, the rain clears and sun begins to shine as I begin
to explore. I come upon a flash mob dance on a small bridge – one of the most
scenic spots in the city – and roam the narrow, cobblestone streets of the old
town center with its “fin de siècle” mansions.

Our group meets together for the first
time after breakfast at the hotel and our guide, Vlasta, orients us to how the
trip is organized. It turns out we are English-speakers from three continents:
a couple from England, a couple and their friend from New Zealand, a couple
from Denver and me, a New Yorker.

We are fitted to our bicycles, load our
luggage into the van that accompanies us, and are off.

Vlasta has organized an easy (flat) first
day of biking (notably, her rule is that we bike only as fast as the slowest
person), but generally 15-20 km/h or 30 km/hr downhill.

Interestingly, we are not given any maps
or cue sheets, and the alphabet is not pronounceable and signs are not
readable, nor do many people speak English; we are completely dependent upon
following the leader. But this is not a problem.

We ride across
the historic plains surrounding the capital, a flat, easy first day. The immense 160-square kilometer marshy
plain, the Ljubljansko Barje, was once a great lake until it dried up 6000
years ago, leaving behind landscape that, we are told, is now home to some of
Europe’s rarest forms of bird, plant and insect life.

We stop at the picturesque Iški
Vintgar Gorge Nature Reserve, carved deep into a stunning limestone dolomite
plateau, and visit the remnants of the world’s highest railway viaduct in
Borovnica.

The highlight of the day’s ride –
as is so often the case –is one of those serendipitous happenings:

As we are riding back from
visiting the Gorge, I stop to take photos of a picturesque water wheel.

A young man comes out
and offers to take us inside to see how this ancient mill works. He is soon
followed by his father who explains that it is one of only two left in
Slovenia, and has been in their family for 380 years. There
used to be 9 mills on the river, now he keeps this one running to preserve the
heritage. It is private, not even a designated historic landmark. I admire an
old carriage, and the older man says it was his mother’s dowry 65 years ago.

Just before arriving in Vrhnika, where we overnight, we visit
the Technical Museum of the Republic of Slovenia (actually a science and
technical museum), housed in Bistra Castle (later a monastery). The castle (technology museum) is like a maze
inside and it is tremendous fun to explore.

It provides a different
perspective on “technology”. Hunting, for example, includes the dogs used for
hunting and the birds and animals that were hunted.

Today’s ride, Stage 5
from Trieste, Italy, is relatively short – a choice of 21 or 40 miles to
Portorose in Slovenia. The shorter version involves taking a ferry from Trieste
across the bay to Muggia in Slovenia, the “Istria” part of our
Venice-Trieste-Istra eight-day self-guided biketour.

We take the longer way, and are
thrilled not to miss the seacoast. The route is predominantly on cycle paths
through well-known seaside resorts like Koper (Capodistria)
and Izola (Isola d’ Istria), to Piran (Pirano)
or adjacent Portorož (Portorose), a
spa resort on the Slovenian Riviera.

(I contemplate taking
the ferry which possibly would have enabled us to spend more time exploring
Trieste, or even better, possibly backtracking to the Miramare Castle which we
missed by taking the “hinterland” route, but decide to press on.)

Of course, what went
down into Trieste must come up. But, after a really steep city street we climb
(I walk, Eric breezes up) and following some convoluted directions (the cue
sheet warns the turn is easy to miss, so of course I miss it and have to find
Eric on the map he has put on my phone, reaching him using HangUp), we get onto
a bike trail that has a much more gentle rise more typical of a rail-trail that
we don’t mind at all. Soon, we are looking down at wonderfully scenic views, biking across a biking/pedestrian
bridge.

We
have these sort of rolling ups-and-downs but nothing too taxing. (Anthony, the
FunActive guide, had mentioned an even longer “hinterland” alternative route which passes
along the valley “Rosandra” in the back country, but I’ve learned my lesson and am not going to miss the
seacoast.)

We come to Muggia, a picturesque seacoast village (which is
where the ferry from Trieste would come). Muggia is in the Istria region but still part
of Italy (though Slovenians are a significant minority and signs are in two
languages). It is absolutely stunning to walk
around its narrow streets which all lead to a main square where the town hall
and church are. We have lunch outdoors in the Piazza Marconi, flanked by the
cathedral and town hall.

I had been concerned that the seacoast route would have a lot of
traffic, but it turns out there is a dedicated bike lane. It is fantastic.
Periodically, we come to these cement piers and promenades that serve as
beaches for sunbathers and swimmers.

We soon cross the border to Slovenia (no actual border control,
though, since both nations are part of the European Union), the route continues
predominantly on cycle paths through well-known seaside resorts like Koper (Capodistria) and Izola (Isola d’ Istria), to Portorož (Portorose),
a spa resort on the Slovenian Riviera.

Coming into Portoroz, there is a rather long climb (but what a
view of Izola!), but on a bike trail so it is gradual and comfortable to ride,
even though it seems at times to be endless. We ride through three tunnels that
had been built for the train (fun!), and at the end, find ourselves at the top
of a hill looking down into Portoroz, a city that is like San Francisco for its
hills. Our hotel, Hotel Tomi, is on one of the hills, so we make our way. (The
other two ladies who have been on our same route have been routed to their hotel
in Piran, which is a few miles beyond, as we learn when we meet up with them
again on the ride.)

The Hotel Tomi is a resort in itself, with a stunning pool (open 24 hours!) that has views down
to the sea. Our room is enormous and we have a balcony that looks over the
town. We rush down to relax in the pool for awhile.

Eric has found a very special restaurant for dinner
(also recommended in the FunActiv guide), RiziBizi The concierge makes a
reservation (we’ve learned our lesson about restaurant reservations!).

We walk to the restaurant, and discover a beach resort
with fine sand and warm, gentle sea (casinos even) that we can’t understand
isn’t as popular with jetsetters as the French Riviera. In fact, there is one
classic hotel, the Kempinski Palace, where Sophia Loren used to stay.

Portoroz actually is adjacent to Piran, another
exquisite town on the tip of the peninsula, and we walk just up to it.

As we walk, the sun is setting so picturesquely
behind Piran, and we realize this is the first
sunset we are seeing. (The other people following the self-guided route go the
extra few miles into Piran for their hotel, which I later discover on my next
biketour through Slovenia, is absolutely stunning.)

Restaurant RiziBizi, which specializes in truffles, serves one of the sensational meals that you remember forever. The restaurant has a tasting menu (from 50 to 60 E). We opt for a la carte: tuna tartar with zucchini, wasabi-reduced plum; truffle soup, the chef sends over pate, served on sticks in a plant; risotto with Adriatic scampi and truffles (the waiter brings a dish of black truffles to table and shaves them onto the dish); duck breast with wine sauce. All the selections are based on locally sourced produce.

Truffles which are found
here in Istria are an amazing delicacy – they can sell for $95 an ounce, $168
an ounce for white truffles or $2000 a pound). The waiter tells us that an
Italian engineer discovered the truffles when building Istria’s first water
distribution network (Tuscany has a longer history of truffle hunting).

I can imagine the most
devoted foodies getting on planes and coming to Rizi Bizi just for the
truffles. And they should. This is a world-class restaurant and the dining
experience has been truly memorable, with selections that uniquely reflect the
local produce, exquisitely presented.

The restaurant is
exemplary in every way – we dine on a patio with a view overlooking the
hillsides down to the sea; the service is impeccable.

The piece de resistance:
dessert consisting of chocolate mousse with truffles.

Slovenia only has about
44 km of seacoast, so these twin towns of Portoroz and Piran are very special.

Stage 6- Portorož/Piran – Poreč (43 miles/70 km)

The Hotel Tomi has one of the nicest breakfast spreads of our trip, as well as one of the prettiest breakfast rooms that opens out to the pool and the view of the town.

It’s our last day of our
eight-day Venice-Trieste-Istria self-guided bike tour! The guide book warns
that this will have the toughest climbs (but they didn’t include the hinterland
ride, so we’re not worried).

Today’s ride, 43 miles,
takes us passed the salt gardens of Secovlje where
sea salt is recovered through natural vaporization, and across the border into
Croatia (where we do need to present passports at border control). The route,
largely uphill (but not bad, after all, we have been toughened up by our
hinterland ride), travels through the Croatian part of Istria, the largest
peninsula on the Adriatic on the way to Porec,
the most important coastal city on the west coast of Istria.

There
are also sections where we go along the seacoast, through these camping resorts
where it seems people stay for a month or two at a time (Europeans have longer
vacations than Americans). Amazingly, as I munch on an ice cream bar and watch
the people frolic in the water, I meet up with the two ladies who are following
our same tour. Makes you realize what a small world it is!

We
come through Novigrad, a lovely village that seems to have a sense of humor.
The old town center is on a small island (there is actually a barricade) and it
has a medieval city wall. There are examples of Byzantine, Franconian, German,
Venetian, Neopolitan, Austro-Hungarian and Italian architecture. As we walk
into the main square, the small streets that lead off it have a canopy of
brightly colored umbrellas. And the town hall is decorated with balloons.

The ride is scenic,
mostly along seacoast (and through camping resorts), mostly on bike trails
until we leave Novigrad and cross a long bridge. Then it comes to a 90-degree
turn up a steep road. Without any momentum, I walk up the first section of the
3 km climb but am proud of myself for biking the rest.

It is a long, long climb but it is on a rail-trail
(gravel) so isn’t so bad, and compared to our 4th day riding (in the
hinterland), this was a piece of cake.

We follow our guide book to where it recommends we visit Grotta Baredine, a cave about 10 km from Porec, described as “the first speleological object and the first geomorphological natural monument to be valorized for sightseeing” (www.baredine.com). We are just in time for the 5 pm English-language tour, which would take hour, but we are concerned about getting into Porec too late, so we move on.

This was a missed opportunity, I am sure. (One of the advantages of a guided tour is that the guide knows to move the group along to take advantage of such sightseeing experiences).

Eric finds the Aba Restaurant – all the tables outside are already reserved, but we are accommodated in the charming dining room inside. We enjoy a dish with noodles with meat and truffle oil that delectable.

The Hotel Porec where we
stay is very pleasant and well situated, both to wander into the old city and
to get to the bus station (literally behind the hotel) in the morning where
Eric will catch a bus (booked over flixbus.com) back to Venice airport and I
will catch a bus to get to my next biketrip, a guided tour of Slovenia, that
starts in Ljubljana.

It’s pouring rain the entire day,
and I think to myself how lucky it is that this is not a bike day.

Self-Guided vs. Guided BikeTrips

The self-guided trips
seem to pack in more riding in a day (though, obviously, FunActive offered
alternatives that would have cut our mileage in half) and less sightseeing. A
guide would have made sure we visited the Miramare Castle and got us there in
time and organized our ride to have more time in Trieste, and gotten us to the
caves in a more timely way to visit and still get into Porec by late afternoon.
But self-guided has its own advantages: we stop where we want, linger over
lunch, leave when we want, and each day offers our own adventure we share.

Booking through
Biketours.com, which offers a fantastic catalog of bike trips (mainly in
Europe), enabled me to link up two tours operated by two different companies:
this self-guided Venice-Trieste-Istria trip which ended in Porec, Croatia on
September 1, operated by FunActive, and an “Emerald Tour” guided bike tour of
Slovenia that started in Ljubljana on September 1 operated by a Slovenian
operator, Helia. The BikeTours.com agent pointed me to Road2Rio.com to figure
out the transfers. Through that site, I found FlixBus.com which I could take to
Ljubljana, and Eric could catch a bus that took him directly to Venice
International Airport (the tour company also offered a transfer to Venice by
ferry) and I could get to my next tour.

The tour company was
great about sending travel documents, including a list of hotels and details
and directions how to get to the first hotel in Venice (the public
transportation system is excellent and inexpensive).

The rental bikes they
provided were excellent and provide a mileage counter (to help with
navigation), panniers, a handlebar pack with to put the cue sheets. We used the
21-speed hybrid bike; e-bikes are available.

The hotels provided were excellent, each one a delightfully charming inn – most significantly, well located in the Old City, in proximity to the trail and whatever we were supposed to see. Tour documents were excellent as well.

FunActive also provided
local telephone numbers for assistance. In each town they listed a bike shop
should we have needed it. The cue sheets and trail maps they provided (though a
bit confusing until we got the hang of it) included locations for photos, food,
sightseeing, and the alternate routes, ferry and train connections as needed,
as well as pinpointing where the different hotels were we were staying.

Each morning, we put out
our luggage in the lobby which magically appeared when we arrived at our next
hotel.

Significantly, the tour
was an excellent value, averaging about $125-150 pp per day.

We find ourselves in the
center piazza and a marvelous restaurant, Trattoria Barcaneta, for lunch. It is
so peaceful and quiet and utterly charming and colorful.

As we ride the bike
trail, we come upon a set of Roman ruins of a colonnade behind a fence, oddly
alongside a road. Then, a tower comes into view, looming above a wall of tall
trees. I must investigate, and check the notes the tour operator has provided.

I realize that this is
Aquileia, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site.

This proves the
highlight of the day: the massive Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta dates from
313 AD, when the Dict of Milan ended religious persecution and the Christian
community could legally build a place of public worship. The first church was
destroyed and over the centuries has been rebuilt four times, each time using
the stones of the earlier buildings. As it stands today, the basilica is in
Romanesque-Gothic style, with a 73 meter-high tower. The inside is
breathtaking: the entire floor is Roman mosaic from the 4th century,
only uncovered in 1909-1912. The 760 sq. meter floor is believed to be the
largest Paleo-Christian mosaic of the western world. But more awaits:

I walk down to the Crypt
of Frescoes, incredibly beautiful and amazingly rich color. The structure dates
back to the 9th century and the frescoes date from the 12th
century. 19 scenes tell the history of Hermagora and the origins of
Christianity in Aquileia.

The rest of the ride is
extremely pleasant, capped with what feels like three miles over a dam, with
water on both sides, to get into Grado, another gorgeous seaside beach resort,
this one with yachts.

We arrive in time to
make it down to the beach by 7 pm (when we discover they don’t charge the 2E
fee to use the beach at that hour), and get to swim in the Adriatic before
going in search of a dinner place.

Grado is interesting –
our hotel is along the beach and is a string of modern hotels that have you
thinking a little bit of Miami Beach. Our
guidebook says that Grado, known as a golden island, is the only good beach
resort on the Upper Adriatic, and has an exceptionally picturesque old town and
a fascinating history.

Indeed, just a couple of
blocks away, it’s like a completely different world: we find ourselves in Grado’s
Old City, standing over an excavation of Roman ruins of a military camp (fort),
a town square with a Basilica della Corte that dates from the 4th
century (one of the oldest in Italy), and a delightful pedestrian walkway
loaded with shops and restaurants in an old historic section.

All the restaurants are
booked solid (we haven’t yet learned the trick of phoning in advance for
reservations, which would be facilitated by the dining recommendations in our
guidebook), but we find a small innovative place that serves tapas-style.

The town is extremely
picturesque and at night the promenade is lighted, there is an interesting
fountain with colored lights you walk under like a tunnel, and it is simply
delightful to stroll.

Other attractions
include the Basilica di Sant’Eufernia which dates from the 6th
century and is located in Campo del Patriarchi. The bell tower was built in
1455. There is also a statue of Archangel Michael, the symbol of Grado, on the
tower.

Our guidebook also makes
note of a boat trip to the island of Anfora, a picturesque fishing village in
the heart of the lagoon. Some parts of the lagoon are designated nature
preserves, harboring some 260 species of birds.

Day 5 of our eight-day
self-guided Venice-Trieste-Istria bike tour starts off magnificently: the ride
from Grado begins with another glorious miles-long ride over a dam (a different
one from yesterday) giving stunning views and refreshing breezes. It continues through
a landscape of rocky caverns and farmland, along the seacoast, finally coming
to a delightful swimming beach (this is why you should carry swimming things).
This part of the ride, the first 24 miles, has been fantastic. Then we come
into Monfalcone, a busy city of shipyards and cruise ships, where we get lost.
And here we make a bad choice for our route to Trieste.

The regular (recommended) route
would have us riding 43 miles along the coastal road (we are told this isn’t a
bike trail but there may be a bike lane) taking in Duino, Sistiana,
Miramare, and Barcola. Our FunActive guide Anthony
(I recall too late), has described riding along cliffs that you can climb down,
passing the castle of Miramare high above the Bay of Grignano,
situated in the middle of a park, which is a major attraction (not to mention
the castle has a Manet exhibit, which I only learn about after we arrive at our
Trieste hotel). Anthony also said how the ride can be reduced to 25 miles by
taking a train into Trieste.

We don’t do either. Instead, we
take a “variant” route from Monfalcone into the “hinterland” (the thought of “hinterland”
had really excited Eric) that brings us into Slovenia (no border crossing or
passport required back and forth to Italy).

As it turns out, this adventure
adds 17 miles to the 43 of which most of it is up and up and up, on winding roads
(at one point, my “can do” attitude fails and I walk the bike up the last
quarter-mile to this section’s “top” feeling defeated). There are no charming
villages. No beautiful sights or vistas. Even the restaurant that is marked on
the map is closed. We ride through what is supposed to be a preserve with trees
on both sides, but there are no real views or scenery.

Finally, we come back to the
Italy border where there is a tiny rest stop (no bathroom though). I rejuvenate
with an ice cream bar, sitting on an air-conditioned porch (I think I am close
to heat exhaustion), and recover myself for the final trek into Trieste. Chalk
this up to the “physical challenge” part of bike touring that gives you
something to boast about forever more. And adventure. After all, it could have
been the most fantastic off-the-beaten-track discovery anyone had ever seen.

We make the final climbs and then
find ourselves, indeed, at a scenic overlook (actually somebody’s driveway)
with a sensational view of Trieste. But after taking our victory-photos, we
realize that now we have to bike down this narrow, busy road with its hair
turns that (seemingly) goes on for miles.

We feel like we are
coming down a corkscrew and finally are deposited into the traffic and hubbub of
a bustling major city.

Trieste is like culture
shock after our time in the tranquil countryside. But we see regal, if drab and
aging, buildings, evidence of an important city.

Somehow, Eric finds the
way to our hotel, located on the fringe of the historic Old City (I clock the
day at 54 miles of which I estimate 12 miles are uphill). We quickly drop our
things and go out to explore while there is still light. It’s a short walk to
the main square.

All at once, I am transported: the architecture evokes Vienna rather than Venice – majestic buildings in neoclassic style. Indeed, Trieste (as much of Slovenia just across the border), was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was once the Empire’s most important Mediterranean port, and interestingly, with the European Union, has again become a major gateway into Europe, rivaling Koper, Slovenia’s major port, for commerce.

The city puts out an
outstanding tourist map, giving background to its history and guide to
important sites like the Museum of History and Art and Lapidary Gardens, the
Castle Museum and Lapidarium, the Victory Lighthouse (built 1922 honoring
sailors lost in World War I), the Opicina Tramway built in 1902 linking city
centre with the plateau. It offers tours to Roman Trieste and literary tours.

And as I discover (too
late to take advantage): Jewish Trieste: Risiera di San Sabba, created inside
an old rice husking factory, was the only extermination camp in Italy and
declared a national monument in 1965; Via del Monte, a Jewish community with a
cemetery used for 400 years, a Jewish Temple, and a Jewish Community Museum,
the newer Jewish Cemetery, a synagogue which dates from 1912, and some other
sites.

Unfortunately, we have
arrived in early evening, and are only able to explore what we can by foot in
the old city, to get a flavor of the city.

Here too, Eric puts out
his radar (app) and finds Osteria de Scorpon for dinner (the risotto with black
ink is excellent). This area reflects its heritage as part of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire and goulash is a regional specialty.

We hadn’t biked far from
the Hotel Alexander on the mainland of Venice in Mestre on the first morning of
a week-long self-guided bike tour that would take us some 300 miles following
the seacoast to Porec, Croatia, before I imagined: had I done this by myself as
I had originally planned, I would have been found weeks later wandering in a
wilderness. I was so grateful that by son could come along – his tech prowess
(and insistence on getting an app of our route) made all the difference.

Each morning, he would
unfurl the day’s Stage map and have his smart phone tucked into the plastic
case on the handlebars. Once underway (after a delightful breakfast in the
pre-arranged inns), I would be trying in vain to follow the cue sheets and do
mathematical gymnastics with the kilometers, and was so consumed with these and
watching for Eric ahead, and being enrapt by the scenery and taking photos,
that I would miss the mark the tour operator left on sign posts for each turn.

“It’s simple,” Eric says.
If you don’t see a mark, you go straight.” But what if you have missed the mark
that told you to turn? You could find yourself kilometers ahead before you even
have a clue you missed the turn and have no idea where to go back. At one
point, Eric installs the hang-out app on my phone so he can find me on his map
and I can see where he is, that comes in really handy when I miss a turn
altogether in the middle of Trieste.

But all of it becomes
part of the adventure – the excitement of doing, not just seeing, of becoming
immersed in a place or not knowing what will beyond the next turn.

The day before we set
out from Venice for the first stage ride, Anthony, the guide from FunActive,
the local tour operator that coordinates the tour, had come to the hotel in the
afternoon to deliver and fit our rental bikes, the vouchers and maps and sit
with us for an orientation reviewing each day’s trip. He arrived specially, as
we requested, shortly after Eric arrived by plane, and we rushed him through so
we could have the afternoon and evening in Venice. Anthony sat patiently with
us in the hotel’s lounge trying to review the route for each of the six days of
riding (he would have to repeat the entire thing for the four other self-guided
cyclists later that afternoon). He reviewed the particularities of the route –
the recommended “options” for sightseeing and the route “variants”. He tried to
give us a sense of the road, and the highlights. I took notes but we rushed him
and I think we missed a few things.

Each
day has alternatives of a shorter, easier ride (usually with some ferry or
train) and the longer one. But
one day stands out in Eric’s mind in particular when he is determined to take “the
hinterland” route.

I thought the thunder storm that hit
during the night would mean fair weather for our first day’s ride, Venice to
Jesolo, a distance of 51 km (30 miles, though there is an option to take a
shorter ride, 22 miles). No luck. It is raining when we leave and surprisingly
cold – about 20 degrees cooler from the day before. We set out anyway because
the rain is part of our adventure, after all.

I had thought we would mainly be riding
on roads with traffic but am surprised and relieved that most of our ride for
the next few days are along bikeways – often paved but sometimes gravel or
pebbles, but nonetheless a bikeway – or else some country roads with very
little traffic. And for the next few days, our ride will be flat, taking us
through farmland and along the coast.

This first day of cycling is designed by FunActive to be easy (and would be but for the rain and head wind). Our destination is Jesolo, a seaside beach town. Many of the days offer options to cut off some of the biking (or the climbing or the traffic) by taking a ferry from the lagoon in Venice to Punta Sabbioni, which would have cut the day’s ride to 22 miles). We opt to take the “hinterland” route, cycling along the river Sile, 30 miles to Jesolo, passing the ruins of Torre Caligo, a tower from the Middle Ages which is situated near the canal “Caligo.”

FunActive has given us excellent
background material – a guidebook in fact (I wish I had paid more attention to
it before we set out) that includes background on the landscape, history and
culture of the regions we travel through, plus recommendations for attractions
and restaurants in each place, along with local maps. The route map, broken up
into each day’s Stage, is well marked with places to stop for food, photos,
attractions.

We ride through countryside – farms
and villages – we can even see the snowcapped mountain peaks of the Dolomites
in the distance.

This first day is really an
orientation to learn “the rules of the road” – for me, figuring out how to
correlate the cue sheets and look for the trail markings. At first, I am very
disoriented, but Eric manages to get us to our destination.

Jesolo is utterly charming seaside
beach resort that attracts local families, and despite its proximity to Venice,
doesn’t seem to have attracted any foreign tourists at all (another delight of
a bike tour, that brings you into local places well off the beaten tourist
track). I am amazed how fine the sand is. The weather has cleared but it is
rather cold and there is a red flag on the lifeguard stand, so no one is in the
water this late in the afternoon. We enjoy walking along the beach, sticking
our feet in the water, and taking in all the color.

The town has a ferris wheel,
amusement park, water park, go karts, arcade, lovely shops and restaurants, is
loaded with surreys and bikes, and in the evening, closes the street to cars altogether.
What we notice is there are few (if any) bars. This is really a family place.
We love our hotel, the Marco Polo which is right on the main street, a block
off the beach. The scenes evoke flashbacks to my own childhood, when our family
would take trips in February to Atlantic City, normally a beach resort, and
enjoy the boardwalk.

There are a plethora of restaurants
– many are full and one in particular, Atmosphera, has
people (including many families), lining up in the street. Lucky for us, they
have a table for two. This place is a revelation – and we can soon see why it
is probably the most popular restaurant in Jesolo – it has a sensational menu
(pages and pages of pizza offerings, meat and fish selections), wonderfully
prepared with fresh, flavorful ingredients in open kitchens, large portions
beautifully presented and modest prices.

Our hotel, the Marco Polo, is most
charming, and right on the main drag.

Today’s ride, 31 miles from Jesolo
to Concordia Sagittaria/Portogruaro, is easy, cycling along the coast and it’s sunny!
which dramatically adds to my sunny mood and puts metal to my pedal. We ride
through scenic farmland and countryside. We take a slight detour into Caorle,
which the FunActive guide, Anthony, has heartily recommended we do, and this
proves one of the pure gems of the tour.

As we enter the town, the colorful
buildings around a plaza makes me think of Sausalito over the Golden Gate
Bridge from San Francisco, or, then again, of Seaside, Florida, that idyllic
village in the “Truman Show,” and as soon as we make the turn into the Old
District, with the warm sun streaming down, I think what a fantastic movie set
this would make. It seems that all the property owners by choice or decree
paint their buildings before each season, according to a certain gorgeous
palette of colors.

The colors are stirring, surreal
almost, especially because of the narrow alleys and the angles. A riot of
color. Think Nanny McPhee. I can’t get enough of it- the scenes make my heart
race, especially the narrow, angled alleys. As we walk, each new vista is like
a new painting.

We discover Carole in layers – first
wandering through the streets. Eric has zoned in on a restaurant for lunch. We
eat outside but this clever place, inside, actually has a model train set that
delivers your food to the table.

Caorle has been settled for about
2000 years. Wandering around, we come upon the Cathedral San Stefano
Protomartire Caorle, built in 1038.

Then we walk back and hone in on the
Madonna dell’Angelo Church, perched on a cliff overlooking the water and the
beach at the end of the stone promenade, wrapping around on two sides. Across
the way, there are a gazillion beach umbrellas set up, but where we are, there
are like random, ad hoc DIY blankets and umbrellas. Eric swims in the Adriatic while
I take photos.

We leave this enchanting town and find ourselves in
absolutely gorgeous countryside – with what I presume are the Dolomite
Mountains as a backdrop. At one point, we ride along a berm that elevates us
over the farmland on either side.

Anthony had strongly recommended
that once we arrive at Concordia Sagittaria where our inn is, we ride the few
extra kilometers into Portogruaro, and when I see the photo of the Town Hall on
our hotel’s card, we race out to take advantage of the warm late afternoon
light.

It is a delightful ride on a bike
path along a river into Portogruaro, aglow in golden light. The town, founded
in the 12th century as a port on the river Lemene, is surprisingly
big and bustling, and we dash to try to capture that scene from the photo before
the sun sets. We find our way to the Old City and the Plaza della Republica
with its grand Gothic Town Hall, A concert is going on and we are drawn in but
pull away in order not to miss the fading sunlight.

The setting is absolutely
magnificent – this 12th century Town Hall with ancient watermills
(one still spinning), is very Venetian in its look. I realize that the shot I
want is across the river, and cross the bridge to a small park adjacent to a
monastery. I get there just in time before the light fades.

We bike back to Concordia
Sagittaria, a delightful village well off the tourist “beaten track,” which is
why I love bike tours so much. The village sits in what was a Roman colony on
the River Lemene.

By now we’re famished. It’s a Monday
night and some restaurants are closed. But Eric finds a marvelous one (which
turns out to be listed in the FunActiv guide): Pizzeria Al Solito Posto. All
the tables have been reserved (notably, by locals), but we notice two people
just finishing their meal at a table outside. There are something like four
pages of pizza to choose from and I have the best pizza I’ve had in my life:
cheese, olives, capers and anchovies with the freshest tomato and thinnest of
crust done to perfection.

Our inn, The Julia, is right on the river and in the middle of the square, towered over by the 10th century Byzantine Cathedrale di Santo Stefano Protomartire, dedicated to the first Christian martyr. (Inside, our notes say, is a holy water stoup in Greek marble from the 1st century and 13th century paintings). Just across the square, we discover an archeological dig with sarcophagus, on the ruins of the first basilica. The excavations have also uncovered ruins of a Roman street. Next to the church is a Roman-style bell tower from 1150. There is also a Bishop’s Palace (1450) and town hall from the year 1523.

This day has been the
most magnificent. And the most interesting thing of all is we would never have
seen or experienced any of it except for riding our bikes.

There are four other
riders following the same self-guided FunActive itinerary as we who have
started on the same day, and we meet up with them periodically in the inns and
even on the trail and delight in sharing stories and comparing notes of our
travels.

One of the smartest
choices I make in preparation for a week-long self-guided bike tour from Venice
to Trieste to Istria (Slovenia to Croatia) is to arrive a day earlier. This
gives me the unsurpassed luxury of spending a day wandering around Venice
without a plan or an objective, just to follow whim and whimsy and take in the
incomparable essence of this enchanting city. I am transfixed by Venice – the
colors, the constant motion, the angles, the architecture, how you never know
what you will see around any corner, how getting lost leads to new discovery. I
have that cherished time to really focus on details.

Eric, my son who will be
biking with me, will be arriving the next day, and I have made my way from
Marco Polo International Airport to the Hotel Alexander, on the mainland, in
Mestre by public bus (following the directions provided by FunActive, the tour
company). I drop my bags and have most of the day to explore on my own.

The hotel that has been
selected on the FunActiv tour (self-guided means that they have booked the inns
and laid out the route, provide the rental bikes and support, a ferry the
luggage each day to the next inn) which I booked through Biketours.com, is well
located, just a short walk to a tram that comes frequently (they tell me where
to buy the ticket, at a convenience store) and whisks me in comfort to the
magnificent old city in 15 minutes.

Before I left the hotel,
I had spotted a flyer about a new Leonardo Da Vinci Museum and am delighted
when, serendipitously, I find myself right in front of it, next door to Chiesa
di San Rocco, a church where a concert is underway. I listen for awhile and
then go into the Museum.

What distinguishes the Leonardo Da Vinci Museum is that it is designed as a laboratory for experimentation and curiosity – actually giving you insights into the mind of Leonardo da Vinci by bringing his manuscripts, schematics and drawings to reality. Engineers have recreated large-scale models of Da Vinci’s inventions from his own plans “created through the skillful craftsmanship typical of the Renaissance workshops” which you can touch and maneuver. Essentially, you get to play with DaVinci’s inventions – delighting children of all ages. The museum also exhibits DaVinci’s anatomical studies. A special space is dedicated to his main pictorial works including the Mona Lisa and Annunciation, reproduced using high-resolution backlight technology.(Open daily, Scuola Grand di San Rocco, www.davincimuseum.it).

My motto, “Seize the day” (and waste
no time) serves me well, because my first day is sunny, bringing out the colors
of Venice – along with everyone else. Venice is unbelievably crowded with
tourists– like Times Square but on a much, much bigger scale– and quite warm
and humid. But I don’t mind and I find myself wandering down streets and alleys
in neighborhoods (and they are really neighborhoods, where Venetians live) that
are amazingly uncrowded and quiet.

I periodically take refuge in churches
to get out of the heat and take a bit of a rest and often am pleasantly
surprised to discover art and music.

One of the delights of
Venice is that it is set up like a labyrinth of warrens, alleys, bridges over
canals, so you are constantly surprised by the scenes that come into view as
you walk about.

Venice (c) Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The most popular is the
famous view from the Rialto Bridge at the center of the city where you
literally have to wait your turn to get a photo.

The narrow alleys all of a sudden
open up into the famous square of San Marco and I come upon the Basilica of San
Marco with its ornate decoration. There is so much to see and do here in the
piazza, which remarkably has retained the same look as depicted in Renaissance
paintings.

At San Marco, I stand on a bridge
the gondoliers go under to get to the Bridge of Sighs – that famous place in
the Doge Palace where prisoners would be taken to their cramped, damp cells,
across this bridge with the last view of the open sky and their last breath of
fresh air. It’s like rush hour of the gondolas. I admire the skill with which
they deftly turn 90-degree corners and avoid hitting each other or smack into
the pilings. The choreography of their floating dance is amazing – I notice the
oar lock the gondoliers use, shaped in such a way that they get a different
angle to control their stroke.

What really strikes me is that
despite the crowds, how clean Venice’s streets are (though there is graffiti,
more a reflection of political climate) and how fresh. This wasn’t the case
when I last visited, 10 years ago.

I linger in the Piazza San Marco for
a time, and am sitting on marble benches under an archway
at the Doge Palace when I hear thunder. Last time I was here, the city was
flooded – platforms mysteriously would appear on the streets that you had to
walk over to avoid wading in six inches of water – a worrisome warning that
Venice may at some point become submerged altogether with rising sea level.

No one seems particularly bothered
by the thunder, not even the street vendors. I take the tram back to the hotel,
and just before I get there, the thunderstorm starts.

The next morning is raining, but no
matter. I hop the tram again, a five-minute walk from the Hotel Alexander
through the neighborhood for the ride into Venice, and this time, after
crossing over the bridge that provides entrance to the Old City (and apparently
closes at night to those who aren’t living or staying here) go left at the fork
instead of right. I walk over a bridge and see a sign pointing to the Jewish
Ghetto and follow it. I come upon a group of Israeli tourists huddled under a
passageway leading into the Jewish quarter as their guide gives her talk. I
walk ahead and find the synagogue, where Sabbath services are just finishing,
guarded by city soldiers who don’t let me in.

The last time I was in Venice, I
happened upon Chabad gathering for Shabbat dinner and was invited in. The
Chabad are actively repopulating European cities that emptied their Jewish
communities during the Holocaust.

I have a few hours before Eric
arrives and we have our orientation with a FunActive guide for our bike tour. I
make my way to San Marco again, before walking back to the depot to get the
tram back to the hotel, in time for Eric and the guide to arrive.

We spend about an hour with Anthony,
the FunActive guide, actually hurrying him along because we are so anxious to
get back to Venice so Eric can have some time there. Anthony persists: going
over the day-by-day maps, pointing out sights we might look out for, and
alternative routes we can take, and then fits us to the bikes we will be
taking.

By the time we get to Venice in the
afternoon, the rain has cleared. We return together to the Jewish Ghetto and
wander from there. I let Eric take the lead so he can have that same delight in
discovering Venice for himself.

It is important to realize that
Venice is a place where people live (signs ask visitors to respect the
residents), and coming in this way, through the Jewish Ghetto, we find many
streets – very quiet streets – that are simply neighborhoods off the beaten
tourist track. Laundry stretched across the canal.

Eric uses his tech prowess (and the
AFAR app) to find a restaurant, which gives a purpose and focus to our
wandering through the streets. We arrive at Al
Portego just in time before all the tables would be reserved for dinner.

After dinner, we walk to San Marco,
which is especially magical at night. I have saved visiting the Doge Palace for
the evening (the Doge Palace and three other museums stay open on Fridays and
Saturdays until 11 pm, last entrance at 10 pm) so that Eric could see it as
well. But Eric is too exhausted after having traveled all day and heads back to
the hotel.

I waltz in at 7:30 pm without
waiting at all – such a contrast to the daytime when the lines are long and
hundreds of people, including massive tour groups, funnel in at once. The
ticket, I learn, is valid at all four museums and good for three months.
Unfortunately, I won’t be able to take advantage, but the ticket is well worth
it.

Priceless, in fact.

I find myself in these rooms – grand
doesn’t begin to describe it – by myself or with at most five other people. All
of us are breathless. No one speaks. The silence is thrilling.

The art work – monumental pieces by
titans of the Renaissance – fill the massive walls and the entire ceiling. One
room is grander and bigger and more gilded than the next, and at this hour, at
this moment, it feels like all of this is for me and me alone.

On the fifth and last day of our 160-mile Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Sojourn on the Delaware-Lehigh Trail, the 37-mile bike ride back to the Hugh Moore Park in Easton along the Pennsylvania side of the river, is absolutely beautiful.

After spending our layover day exploring Washington Crossing State Park, our last night together was a true banquet (grilled steaks! beer!) served under a gorgeous pavilion at Bowman Hill, followed by a talent show by some of the more intrepid Sojourners which is surprisingly great in addition to being pure fun.

Biking back along the Delaware Canal State Park section of the D&L Trail, with its historic locks and bridges, I savor these views of bucolic villages and landscape.

On Day 3 of our Sojourn, we also got to experience part of another of my favorite greenways, the Delaware-Raritan Canal trail on the New Jersey side. Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s TrailNation website offers an itinerary, but you can do a fabulous daytrip, starting on the trail just across from Princeton University, and biking north. You can ride 20 miles to the end, at Edison, NJ (or turn back when you feel you want to). I find this portion of the trail, which follows the canal, to be the most picturesque, particularly in fall. There are also places to rent a kayak or a canoe and you may even see the university crew team.

This Sojourn on the Delaware-Lehigh is a sentimental favorite for Rails-to-Trails Conservancy – returning to the trail that was the focus of the very first Sojourn, in 2002.

For the past 12 years, the annual Sojourn has been RTC’s way of celebrating accomplishments in repurposing disused rail lines and canal towpaths for biking, walking and recreation, as well as to showcase gaps in trails that its advocacy works to fill. This year’s Sojourn was a major celebration of the opening of a new bridge across the river at the village of Jim Thorpe in Pennsylvania, helping to complete the 160-mile long along the Delaware-Lehigh Trail.

“Way back in 2002, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy helped draw attention to our burgeoning efforts to build the D&L Trail from Wilkes Barre to Bristol, Pennsylvania. Today, as we welcome Sojourners back, the D&L Trail is about 92 percent complete and we hope to be fully connected by 2022,” Elissa Garofalo, the executive director of the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, wrote the Sojourners.

“While we are still a work in progress, the route of the D&L is one that celebrates the legacy of innovation, risk, resilience and beauty of America’s 19th century Industrial Revolution. As you travel our mine-to-market path, I hope you will revel in the wonders that my co-workers and I are fortunate to help celebrate, preserve and inspire connections every day.” (http://delawareandlehigh.org/).

But the 300 Sojourners – so many who have done multiple trips (I’ve done three, including two on the Great Allegheny Gap) – were disheartened to learn this year’s fully supported five-day bike/camping tour was Rail-to-Trails Conservancy’s last, at least for now. (It is hoped local trail groups or biketour companies would host similar annual supported tours). The reason? So the nonprofit organization can concentrate/focus on advocacy of preserving and repurposing trails – TrailNation –some 10,000 miles of multi-use trails, already. (You can find these trails on Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s site, traillink.com.)

The urgency has come because the Trump Administration has pulled funding that had been available for more than a decade to help communities take back these resources for their own benefit – including local economic revitalization as well as improving the quality of life and healthful outdoor recreation – and changed regulations to make it harder for communities to take back these trails.

For example, an important tool for advocates seeking to acquire and repurpose abandoned rail corridors has been Railbanking, a federal statute which provided the mechanism for communities across the country to convert former railways into thriving rail-trails that boost local economies and create healthier, more vibrant communities while protecting rail corridors for generations to come. The process requires complicated agreements between the railroad owners of the corridor and local trail managers and necessitates multiple extensions beyond the six-month period provided in the law. Now the Trump Administration’s Surface Transportation Board (STB) is proposing to significantly restrict the timeframe for these negotiations.

Rails to Trails Conservancy has its work cut out for it – no wonder the non-profit organization, advocates for its 160,000 members and supporters, 31,000 miles of rail-trails and multi-use trails, and more than 8,000 miles of potential trails waiting to be built, is focusing on advocacy and activism. The Trump Administration has done everything possible to reverse course on repurposing obsolete railways and canalways to multi-purposed trails that provide alternatives to climate-choking cars and already strapped public transportation (largely in response to donors with a stake in fossil fuels like the Kochs who are spending their lobbying dollars to kill transit projects, see New York Times).

It is ironic because, as we see as we bike, these communities were originally built in the service of a fossil-fueled economy and have collapsed largely because of changing technology. The Trump Administration is desperately trying to rekindle that economy and quite literally, force society back a century instead of propel us forward into the 21st century.

But as Rails-to-Trails Conservancy points out, promoting biking and walking infrastructure can be an answer to so many of the ills facing communities today. According to the Rails-to-Trails’ website:

Traffic Congestion: Biking and walking infrastructure can be a solution to local traffic congestion. Pilot studies have proven that people will choose biking and walking over driving for daily trips if the infrastructure is in place. In Minneapolis, Minn., for example, 28% of all trips don’t rely on a car (Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program: 2014 Report).

Building more highways and roads has failed to stem the rise in congestion. Between 1982 and 2011, the number of hours of vehicle delay in urban areas rose 360%, even as the number of highway and road miles increased by 61% (Texas A & M’s Annual Urban Mobility Report).

Economic Development: Trails boost the desirability and value of the homes and neighborhoods they connect to. Prospective homebuyers in Ohio, for example, were willing to pay an additional $9,000 to be located 1,000 feet closer to a trail, according to 2012 study by University of Cincinnati School of Planning.

Trails and pathways have been proven to increase activity in downtown business areas by making it easier for people to get to stores without having to worry about parking and traffic. A study found the business occupancy rate in downtown Dunedin, Fla. increased from 30% to 95% with the opening of the nearby Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail. (Investing in Trails).

Transportation Patterns: Americans are already beginning to shift away from cars for daily transportation in favor of biking, walking and transit systems. This generation of young Americans is the first since the invention of the automobile to be less likely to get a driver’s license than their parents. (See: Transportation and the New Generation, 2012).

More than one-quarter of all trips we make are less than a mile—an easy walking distance—and nearly one-half are within three miles—an easy biking distance. Trail networks create the infrastructure that encourage and enable people to walk and bike as part of their daily lives.

Biking and walking is not just “an urban trend.” RTC’s 2012 report, Beyond Urban Centers showed that the share of work trips made by bicycle in small towns is nearly double that of urban centers.

Social Equity: Comprehensive trail systems can bridge gaps within and between communities, creating new access to jobs, physical activity and outdoor recreation-offering connected active transportation options to the more than 90 million Americans without a car.

Health: Obesity is the most pressing public health crisis of our age, particularly among children. Obesity costs America more than $190 billion in reactive healthcare spending each year. Making walking and biking a regular part of daily activities by providing convenient pathways is one of the most cost-effective ways to combat physical inactivity – something we cyclists on the Sojourns saw constantly.

When people have safe places to walk within 10 minutes of their home, they are one and a half times more likely to meet recommended activity levels than those who don’t. Comprehensive trail systems can give people new access to outdoor recreation opportunities.

Protecting the Environment: The environmental benefits of green infrastructure are strongest when open spaces are connected. Trail networks contribute to a healthy environment by protecting precious open space while encouraging active modes of transportation that reduce air pollution, traffic congestion and climate change.

There are private bike tour companies that service many of these trails apart from these organized rides, notably Wilderness Voyageurs (which operated Rails to Trails Conservancy’s Sojourns in the past, and is offering five-day trips on the Erie Canal and offers trips on the Katy Trail in Missouri, www.wilderness-voyageurs.com) that offer these itineraries as supported rides, most typically with inn-to-inn accommodations. Road Scholar offers all-inclusive bike trips geared to seniors (www.roadscholar.org)

There are also outfitters, like Pocono Bike, that provide shuttle service to take you back to a starting point for hub-and-spoke kind of itineraries (which works well at Washington’s Crossing and the Jim Thorpe, where there are lovely inns in a most charming town). Pocono Bike offers full day, half-day, as well an overnight stay in historic downtown Jim Thorpe. Convenient access points allow for one way rides up to 36 miles, while two and four day overnight getaways feature up to 138 miles of trail through the D&L National Heritage Corridor (stunning in the fall foliage). (A four-day inn-to-inn bike trip goes from Jim Thorpe to Washington’s Crossing; the company also offers whitewater rafting trips and “pedal & paddle” trips. https://poconobiking.com/the-trail/ 800-whitewater.)

But these large-scale programs, organized around groups like Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and Parks & Trails NY, which bring together hundreds of people from all over the country, even the world, add a new and marvelous dimension to the experience – a sense of community, especially because of the opportunity to do supported camping. And these group programs are also organized with so many other features – special activities like entertainment and tours, museums and attractions stay open for us, put on special guides, and whole communities who come out onto the trail to welcome us. Not to mention putting the trip in reach of many more people because they tend to have a modest per diem cost (about $125 per day including most meals).

Rails to Trails Conservancy is holding out the possibility that the local trail alliances will host their own trips, either as day trips, hub-and-spoke or multi-day. Indeed, there are organizations that do annual cross-state itineraries (not necessarily on trails but on roads): in Maine (Bike Maine is taking reservations for its Sept . 7-14, 2019 ride, 207-623-4511, ride@bikemaine.org, ride.bikemaine.org), or agencies such as Missouri State Parks which offers an annual supported ride along the Katy Trail. New York State’s Parks & Trails NY (518-434-1583, www.ptny.org) does the sensational eight-day, 400-mile Cycle the Erie biketour from Buffalo to Albany, which to my mind, offers the best panorama to tell the story of how America came to be (“400 miles and 400 years of history”).

TrailNation

Giving up operating the annual Sojourn, however, will allow Rails-to-Trails to concentrate on its TrailNation work so that many more communities have access to trails. These TrailNation projects take an innovative approach to how trails and active transportation systems are built—from concept to implementation— by demonstrating the power of trails to create healthy, thriving communities. Rails-to-Trails works with local advocacy groups, offering political, financial and technical expertise. For example (from RTC’s website):

Baltimore Greenway Trails Coalition: A game-changing urban trail network that will link three existing Baltimore City trails to form a 35-mile loop connecting the city’s diverse neighborhoods and natural features with the downtown core. When complete, this project—a partnership between RTC and Bikemore—will transform the public realm by opening up bike and pedestrian access to major civic institutions and destinations around the city, and provide equitable, low-stress access to open space, transportation and recreation. Only 10 additional miles are needed to close critical gaps (https://www.railstotrails.org/our-work/trailnation/baltimore-greenway-trails-coalition/).

Capital Trails Coalition is working to create a 676-mile network of multiuse trails throughout the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region. RTC is a founding partner in this coalition which was initiated by the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (https://www.railstotrails.org/our-work/trailnation/capital-trails-coalition/)

The Circuit Trails: An innovative, regional urban trail network that is connecting people of all ages to jobs, communities and parks in the nine-county Greater Philadelphia-Camden, NJ, region will encompass 800 miles of trails on both sides of the Delaware River by the time of the project’s completion in 2040, and more than 50 percent of the region’s population—over 3.1 million people—will live within a mile of the trail network.

Route of the Badger, a partnership of RTC and the Wisconsin Bike Fed, is envisioned to be a world-class, 500-plus-mile regional trail system that connects people towns and counties, providing opportunities for physical activity, tourism, connections to nature, recreation and stronger businesses along the route (https://www.railstotrails.org/our-work/trailnation/route-of-the-badger/)

Empire State Trail: Notably, Parks & Trails NY, another organization which is committed to developing multi-purpose trails, has been active over the years in completing the 353-mile Erie Canalway. Now New York State is taking that initiative even further, spending $200 million to develop and connect 750 miles of multi-purpose trails (including 350 miles of new trails) of the east-west Erie Canalway Trail and the north-south Hudson River Valley Greenway. The Empire State Trail will enable someone to bike from the tip of lower Manhattan up to the Canadian border, and across the state, from Buffalo to Albany; it is targeted for completion in 2020 (https://www.ny.gov/programs/empire-state-trail)

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a nationwide network of trails from former rail lines and connecting corridors; with a goal of creating more walkable, bikeable communities in America. RTC offers TrailLink, a free service that lets you access RTC’s 30,000 miles of trail maps and itineraries and downloadable mobile app. Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, 2121 Ward Court, NW, Washington, DC 20037, 866-202-9788, railstotrails.org, TrailLink.com.

Being here at Washington Crossing State Park on the Pennsylvania shore of the Delaware River, hearing the story of General George Washington crossing icy water on that fateful Christmas night, I realize that all I knew of that scene was the image from the painting so indelibly impressed on every school child’s brain. The actual events are much, much more dramatic, as the 300 Sojourners, cyclists who have come down the Delaware-Lehigh Trail, learn on our guided tour.

This opportunity to tour Washington Crossing Historical Park is built into the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Sojourn, one of several options for our layover day on the fourth day of the five-day biking-and-camping trip.

The Sojourn rides- usually five or six days of supported camping and biking – are typically constructed with a layover day where you get to choose from activities and excursions that exemplify the area or just hang out on your own. Other options include a kayak tour on the Delaware Canal; a visit to the Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve, a tour of the Old Barracks Museum in Trenton, NJ, or just exploring New Hope, PA on our own to take in attractions, dining and art galleries.

I realize I had no clue of just how heroic, indeed, how much of a Mission Impossible this feat was, and how many were involved, nor how significant this relatively small battle of was for the ultimate success of the revolution that founded our nation.

The visit to the Washington Crossing Historical Park starts with an excellent 14-minute video introduction that lays out why Washington said of this desperate mission ““Dire necessity will, nay must, justify the attack.”

It was winter of 1776. The Continental Army had suffered terrible defeats on Long Island and New York. Washington was forced to retreat across New Jersey to Pennsylvania on December 7 and 8.

The British were on the march to Philadelphia, plundering and ravishing homesteads as they went. They were waiting for the Delaware River to freeze so they could march across. That gave Washington some time to regroup.

Morale of the American troops was low. The soldiers lacked food and warm clothing, even boots. Washington watched his army shrink due to desertions and expiring enlistments. Now, more than ever, a victory was desperately needed.

Washington hatched a daring plan to cross the Delaware River under the cover of darkness, march to Trenton and unleash a surprise attack on the Hessian outposts in and around Trenton.

He ordered every boat that could be found to be at the ready. Among the various types of boats gathered, most notable were the large, heavy Durham boats that were used to carry pig iron down the Delaware.

His plan was for a Pincer-style attack, with two divisions attacking from the south of Trenton.

We go into the boathouse – which was built in 1977 to house re-creations of the Durham boats that Washington would have used.

These are all re-creations, and smaller (40 feet long) and lighter and more nimble than the ones Washington would have used. By the 1830s, these boats, built to carry cargo, were obsolete – indeed, even in their day, they were often used for one-way trips and discarded.

Washington’s boats were 65 feet long, weighing 7,000 pounds, 50 percent heavier that these re-creation. As it is, it takes a day to put four boats in the water for the annual Christmas re-enactment.

In Washington’s time, the boats would have been kept in the water, not a boat barn, which was built in the 1950s when they started doing the reenactments.

There were no seats in the boats – everyone stood up, but no one was as high up as Washington is depicted in the famous painting.

The painting shows 13 people – 12 in the boat and one standing up; for the reenactments, they use 11 crew, four oars each 15 feet long and 50 lbs, with two people per oar at shoulder level. One of the oars is 22 ft, weighing 100 lb,that is used like a rudder to steer the boat.

“We do it in one hour. It took 11 hours to transport Washington’s troops during the night, going back and forth.” Once, he recalled, it was snowing heavily during reenactment which was most like the actual conditions.

Each boat made five trips both ways, carrying 45 soldiers plus the boat crew (imagine what that would have been like for the boat crews). It took a half-hour or longer for each trip. One man fell off the boat, but was saved.

The river was fast, but 45 feet wider than normal, and with ice blocks as big as six feet wide, would come suddenly with speed, joggle the boat and knock it off course. It was difficult to see.

Over the course of the 11 hours, Washington’s 2,400 soldiers were shuttled across. But then, these soldiers, some of whom were dressed in rags and barely had shoes, had to wait for hours as they were pounded by a Nor’easter that set in at 11 pm, for the rest to arrive, and then march 9 miles over mud paths to fight the same Hessian troops who had beaten them five times before.

“The odds were not in their favor. It shows the fortitude of the men.”

Because surprise was his key weapon, Washington kept the mission a secret until the last minute.

“Washington didn’t tell the men the attack was underway until 1 pm. That was not enough time for the men to prepare supplies and march. So a lot of the men were late,” he tells us, standing in front of a map that illustrates the battle plan.

Washington assembled his own troops near McConkey’s Ferry in preparation for the crossing. By 6 pm, 2,400 troops had begun crossing the ice-choked river. The operation was slow and difficult due to the condition of the river. There was an abrupt change in the weather forcing the men to fight their way through sleet and a blinding snowstorm. These obstacles proved to be too much for the supporting divisions led by colonels Cadwalader and Ewing, ultimately preventing their crossing at southern points along the Delaware.

Washington had planned for a Pincer-style attack. He had them synchronize their watches. He had already started sending the men across when he learned that the other two generals were not able to send their men. He decided to continue anyway.

In this ferry building, Washington writes to Colonel Cadwalader, “’Dear Sir. Notwithstanding the discouraging accounts I have received from Colonel Reed of what might be expected from the operations below, I am determined, as the night is favorable, to cross the river and make the attack upon Trenton in the morning. If you can do nothing real, at least create as great a diversion as possible. I am, Sir, your most obedient servant.’”.

“Now the weather works to the Americans’ advantage,” our guide relates, standing in front of a battlefield map. “Hessian guards (pickets) are in houses. Washington sneaks through perimeter undetected. But one rogue group launches a raid, which undermines the crucial element of surprise. The Hessian guards run into city to warn the commander, Colonel Johann Gottlieb Riall, but Riall thinks it is just a raid. He musters half to guard two main roads, but doesn’t meet Washington head on. Washington tries to retain initiative.”

The First Battle of Trenton takes only an hour. Of the 1,500 Hessians, 100 killed or wounded. Rall is fatally wounded.

Washington informed Congress of victory but neglected to mention how many men were lost (the Hessians lost about 100).

It was a relatively small battle but the victory elevated the American cause in eye of world. Then, within 10 days, Washington chalked up victories at Trenton and Princeton.

There were still 5 more years of war, until 1781, to come, but this was the turning point in revolution.

“The 3 victories are huge for Continental Army. France and Spain began to pay attention. If Washington had lost, Continental army would have disbanded.”

The Hessian prisoners were paraded through Philadelphia to Lancaster where they worked on farms, were paid and given free room and board. A quarter of the Hessian prisoners wound up staying or returning to the area after the war (the Pennsylvania Dutch were already here.) But American prisoners were badly treated.

The single biggest fact we don’t know about Washington’s crossing of the Delaware? Who crossed.

Each December, thousands of people gather on the banks of the Delaware River to watch the reenactment of George Washington’s daring 1776 Christmas night river crossing. During the event, several hundred reenactors in Continental military dress row across the river in replica Durham boats.

This year, there are two opportunities to view the reenactment at Washington Crossing Historic Park, on December 9 (10 am to 4 pm, the crossing is at 1 pm, $8/adult, $4/child 5-11; in addition to the crossing reenactment, special colonial-era activities and demonstrations in the Historic Village will offer a full day of family fun and learning) and Christmas Day, December 25 (noon to 3 pm, crossing is at 1 pm; free. The event draws thousands of people; arrive well before 1 pm for a good place to view (see www.WashingtonCrossingPark.org).

The Historic Village

The McConkey Ferry Inn which we get to visit was the only building here at the time of Washington’s Crossing of the Delaware; the other structures came later.

The first ferry building was built in 1752, but only the basement kitchen remains. The current inn was built in several stages; the west side, the one farthest from the river, was built around 1790 and includes the original basement. The building represents a typical country inn or tavern of the Revolutionary era and suggests the variety of amenities that would have been available to the traveler at that time.

Mahlon K. Taylor House: Born in 1791, Mahlon K. Taylor became the wealthiest and most influential member of the Taylor family, a fixture of Taylorsville’s commercial success until his death in 1870.The stately home, built 1816-17, illustrates Taylor’s successful career as a merchant and entrepreneur. The house is an example of the degree to which the fashions and refinement of upper-class Philadelphians were beginning to influence rural Pennsylvania.

Taylorsville Houses: These 19th century buildings were built by different members of the Taylor family as their own residences or to rent to trades and craftsmen. Many 19th-century country villages and towns also had general stores that sold a wide array of merchandise. Mahlon Taylor opened the Taylorsville store around 1828 shortly before the Delaware Canal was constructed, and served as postmaster there for 40 years.

Hibbs House: Built in 1828, this building was one of several tenant houses the Taylor family constructed to attract artisans to Taylorsville. It served as the home and workshop of a shoemaker, then a cooper, a wheelwright, and finally a carpenter, Abdon Hibbs. A typical two-room over two-room stone structure, it housed a worker, his family, and his apprentice, as well as his shop.

Frye House and Blacksmith Shop: Bernard Taylor built the Frye House in 1828 as a tenant property. It housed Taylorsville’s blacksmith and his family, as well as an apprentice. The blacksmith was indispensable, fashioned iron tools and implements essential to work and to family life in the preindustrial era. The current shop was built in 1990. Living-history demonstrations are conducted during special events.

Revolutionary War Memorial Cemetery

Our afternoon tour begins with a visit to a memorial cemetery where an unknown number of Continental soldiers who died during the December 1776 encampment in Bucks County are buried.

Although no Americans were killed during the Crossing and the First Battle of Trenton, these soldiers would have died due to exposure, disease or previous injuries. James Moore, a 24-year-old artillery captain from Alexander Hamilton’s New York company, is the only veteran buried in this plot whose identity is known.

I love visiting the Thompson-Neely House, on Bowman’s Hill, just across a road from where we camp at the Washington Crossing State Park, and on the other side of the canal.

The house is presently interpreted as it would have been when it served as a temporary regimental army hospital during Washington’s winter campaign of 1776/1777. Ill and injured soldiers were brought to this home of the Thompson and Neely families for medical treatment and recovery. A young officer from Virginia named James Monroe, who was seriously injured during the First Battle of Trenton, convalesced here. In 1817, he became the fifth president of the United States. William Washington, a distant cousin of the commander-in-chief, was also wounded and he too recovered. This is where Captain James Moore of the New York Artillery died of camp fever on Christmas day and is buried on the property (in what is now the Soldiers’ Graves area).

The Thompson-Neely House, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is an example of vernacular 18th-century architecture. Originally a low, one-room dwelling, it was expanded over time to a two-story, multi-roomed farmhouse reflecting the growth of colonial Pennsylvania’s agricultural economy and the prosperity of the Thompson family, who milled grain into flour for export.

Several hundred years ago, the area occupied by the Thompson-Neely House and Farmstead and the nearby mill were inhabited by natives of the Lenni Lenape village of Winnehawcnunick. Around 1684, a runaway indentured servant, John Pidcock, fled his master and took possession of the property, establishing a fur trading station there around 1701.

The next owner of the property, Quaker miller John Simpson, constructed the original central section of this house about 1740, as well as a gristmill along Pidcock Creek. At the time of his death in 1747, Simpson was a prosperous farmer with an interest in a sawmill besides his other holdings. His widow, Hannah, married Scots-Irish miller Robert Thompson in 1748, whose farming and milling businesses on the property made him one of the wealthiest men in Solebury Township by 1761.

In 1757, owner Robert Thompson built a two-story addition on the west end (away from the river) of the house.

Nine years later, Thompson’s daughter, Elizabeth, married her father’s apprentice William Neely, an Irish immigrant, and Thompson added a second story above the old first section.

Neely, who was in the militia in 1775 with Washington’s troops. Neely brought the army here to camp out. There would have been some 500 Continental army troops camped here (7400 in the area), among them James Monroe (the future president), and William Washington, a cousin to General Washington.

Robert Thompson enlarged the house once again by constructing the two-story east wing in 1788 to accommodate the Neely’s growing family. Taller ceilings gave this newest portion a higher roofline than the existing structure.

When he died in 1804, Robert Thompson left his large estate to his grandson, Robert Thompson Neely, including the main farmhouse with outbuildings, two mills, a cooper’s shop, and a distillery. Although Robert Thompson Neely continued to expand his family business and real estate holdings, he died in debt in 1848. Succeeding generations of the Neely family continued to own the farmhouse. When the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania acquired it in 1926, the building had been little changed since the early 19th -century.

Once the centerpiece of a working farm and milling complex, the Thompson-Neely House is surrounded by the numerous outbuildings needed for farmlife in the 18th-century, such as the restored smokehouse, chicken coop and privy. Washington Crossing Historic Park’s flock of sheep may be visited at the restored barn.

Thompson-Neely Grist Mill

The Thompson-Neely grist mill, built in 1875, is actually the third grist mill to be built on the property.

The grist mill figured into the prosperity of the families who lived here, first Englishman John Simpson who acquired the property around 1740 and built the first grist and saw mill. After he died, in 1747, the mill passed to his journeyman, Robert Thompson, who married Simpson’s widow, Hannah. The couple farmed and ran the mill at a time when Philadelphia was the largest city in British North America and had a thriving flour market, exporting five million pounds in 1771. By 1782, Thompson had become one of the wealthier men in Solebury Township.

William Neely, Thompson’s apprentice, married Thompson’s daughter in 1766, and ran the mill for more than 40 years before his death in 1804. Thompson’s daughter and grandson, Robert T. Neely, inherited the mill.

The Thompsons and the Neelys built up an estate that included the grist mill, a saw mill, cooper’s shop, distillery, store, sawyer’s house, miller’s house, and assorted barns and outbuildings on 500 acres of land.

The Second Mill, 1829-1873: The Pennsylvania Canal Commission built the Delaware Canal through Neely’s property, along the original creek bed that powered the mill’s water wheel which put Neely’s mill out of business. He received $8,000 from the state for damages and built a new mill further upstream on the site of the present grist mill.

The Third Mill, 1875-1910: Robert’s Neely’s son John owned the mill when it caught fire in August 1873. The mill was rebuilt in the same place and reopened in 1875 and operated until 1910, after being purchased by the State of Pennsylvania.

The mill was closed for 50 years, until the state renewed interest in it as a historical site.

Restoration: During the 1970s, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission carried out archaeological research and restoration of the site. A new water wheel was installed in its original location, and the mill was restored to a state resembling that of a grist mill of the late 1820s. But the mill was again shuttered 20 years later.

Restoration work began in late 2016. And after two decades shuttered to the public, the Thompson-Neely Grist Mill’s doors reopened on March 17, 2018, just a couple of months before we Sojourners arrive. In-depth programming including live demonstrations of the milling process, field trips for area students and a special program for children during the park’s annual Sheep-to-Shawl Day are planned.

Bowman’s Hill Tower

Bowman’s Hill Tower, we discover on the tour the Sojourn has arranged for us, is just about the only place in Bucks County to get an above-the-trees, bird’s-eye view of the surrounding countryside and Delaware River. The Tower, which was built between 1929-31 as a Depression-era project, rises 125 feet high atop Bowman’s Hill; on a clear day, you can see 14 miles away.

We hike up the 124 steps (an elevator installed during the 1980s restoration can take you up three-quarters of the way, to the last 23 narrow steps).

Soon after the tower’s construction, workers planted 28,300 seedlings in the area to reforest the hill like people thought it would have been in Washington’s time. Some of those seedlings have become today’s towering trees on Bowman’s Hill.

Walking up from the Thompson-Neely House, passed the Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve (so many wonderful, themed trails to explore! Next time!), proves to be quite a hike, because it is about 1.5 miles up on a winding road before you even get to the staircase.

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a nationwide network of trails from former rail lines and connecting corridors; it advocates for its 160,000 members and supporters, 31,000 miles of rail-trails and multi-use trails, and more than 8,000 miles of potential trails waiting to be built, with a goal of creating more walkable, bikeable communities in America. RTC offers TrailLink, a free service that lets you access RTC’s 30,000 miles of trail maps and itineraries and downloadable mobile app.

This wonderful celebration, led by the local bike club, gets the 300 Sojourners in gear for our longest ride, 48 miles, of our five-day, 160-mile Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Sojourn on the Delaware-Lehigh Trail through the picturesque Pennsylvania wilderness to Hugh Moore Park in Easton where we will camp for the night.

We follow after the Jim Thorpe Bike Club as the first across the bridge, an achievement 25 years in the making.

Around midday, we navigate a complex gap in the D&L Trail onto city streets. Indeed, drawing attention to such gaps, and the coalition working to improve them, has been one of the objectives of these annual Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Sojourn supported biketours. To date, an impressive 92 percent of the D&L Trail has been built—most of which we ride during this Sojourn—and the goal is to connect all 165 miles by 2022.

The trail condition has been surprisingly good considering yesterday’s drenching rain and even yesterday, the trail had enough hard-pack that our tires didn’t sink into mud.

Yesterday, as we rode downhill from the highest point, deep in Pennsylvania’s coal mining country, the beauty of the wilderness section of the trail was hard to appreciate through the rain (though nothing could mar the exquisite beauty of Buttermilk Falls).

But on this June day, the weather is sunny with a cool breeze, just perfect for biking.

We get to see just how beautiful the trail is – much of it following a narrow canal on one side or the other. The trail is built on the original towpath, which is essentially a built-up berm. We see rock walls, lily pads. The scenery and joy of biking produce a feeling of euphoria.

We come to the Lehigh Gap Nature Center, a non-profit conservation organization at the foot of the Kittatinny Ridge, which is like an oasis to us. The center is dedicated to preserving wildlife and habitat through conservation programs such as the Lehigh Gap Wildlife Refuge, educational programs such as the Kittatiny Raptor Corridor Project as well as research. I linger in the butterfly garden before setting out again. (8844 Paint Mill Rd, Slatington, PA 18080, 610-760-8889, http://lgnc.org/)

Along the way, we come upon what is left of the original canal locks – stone walls, wooden gates with metal latches and gears, remnants from the mid-1800s.

At Freemansburg, we find a lockmasters house, the remains of the locks and a mill, and I am delighted to find the site manned by interpreters in period dress. I ask if the village was settled by freemen and am told that it was named for one of the original settlers, Richard Freeman.

Freemansburg is a classic example of a canal town with houses and structures built up against the waterway that was the village’s lifeblood in the 1800s. Members of the Old Freemansburg Association (OFA) reclaimed a 1.5 mile section of the Lehigh Canal the Borough owns from overgrowth and debris and restored the towpath which became the D&L Trail. The OFA spearheaded efforts to protect and restore the 1829 Locktender’s House, mule barn, Lock No. 44, gristmill, and coal yard. Volunteers also reconstructed the barn using canal era tools and equipment, a project that took 10 years to complete. The multi-functional building now hosts weddings, educational sessions and interpretative demonstrations. (http://lehighvalleyhistory.com/history-of-the-borough-of-freemansburg)

This proves a warm-up for what we will see during our overnight stay at the Hugh Moore Park and its major attractions, the National Canal Museum and the ride on a mule-drawn canal boat that has been arranged for us.

National Canal Museum, Hugh Moore Park.

Our 48-mile ride today ends at the home base in the 520-acre Hugh Moore Park, where we began and will end. With the Lehigh River, Lehigh Canal, the old Lehigh Valley Railroad, National Canal Museum, remnants of the oldest industrial park in the region, a Locktender’s House and one of only three mule-drawn canal boats still operating in America, the park offers a microcosm of the D&L story, and an absolutely delightful place for our second-night campout.

The Sojourn planners have specially arranged for us to have free cruise on the historic Josiah White II canal boat, all the more exciting because it is pulled by two mules and manned by a crew in period dress along this portion of the restored canal. You really get to appreciate what it was like for these families who operated the canal boats that carried the anthracite coal from the mountains to Philadelphia. At one time mules pulling canal boats on narrow towpaths would have been a common sight in much of the United States east of the Mississippi River.

We board the Josiah White II canal boat to cruise on the restored Section 8 of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation canal. Captain Susan is at the tiller. The boat is 50 feet long – when it turns, it has mere inches to spare.

Two mules, Hank and George, pull the boat, led by Steve and Doug. You would think it is a strain, but the boat slides easily. “Benjamin Franklin worked out the mathematics, that two mules can pull 235 tons on water. He saw the method in Europe and Britain. George Washington also was a proponent of canals. – though neither one lived to see beginning of canal era.”

Captain Susan is just finishing saying how Hank and George are the luckiest mules in the land, when they both bolt and start running toward the campsite, chased by Steve and Doug who bring them back.

The boats were designed to carry 80 to 90 tons of coal, which meant the canal had to have six feet of draft.

They needed eight feet high walls – so they dug out four feet by hand and piled on the four-feet of soil to create the eight-foot high walls.

They knew the limestone couldn’t contain the water, so they lined the canal with clay, using the same method of road building in Ireland – sheep tamp down the bottom and the clay is left to dry in the sun. (The clay enclosure is why you can’t have any sharp implements on the boats).

It took 2 ½ years to build the canal which extends 46 miles from Jim Thorpe and consists of 9 dams and 51 locks. It cost $1 million (actually under budget). These canals were the first million dollar civil projects in the United States, she says.

When they started to mine the anthracite coal, this whole region of northeast Pennsylvania was uninhabited. To make money, they had to move the coal to the population center in Philadelphia. The Lehigh River was not suitable for transportation – it was too shallow, rocky.

The Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company (we saw their building in Jim Thorpe) owned the river, built the canal, and furnace and brought an iron maker from Wales who knew how to make iron with anthracite coal (the secret was high-pressure blast of air).

Pennsylvania is one of the few places where anthracite – hard coal – is known to exist. It was discovered sporadically during the 18th century, when people would literally stumble on it on the surface. “No one cared. It looked like stone. You couldn’t light it.”

What is more, there were still trees to provide fuel. But by the early 1800s, the mid-Atlantic was virtually clear cut of wood sparking an energy crisis.

They experimented with soft coal, but the supply was cut off in 1812 by blockade during the War with Britain.

Around then, Josiah White and Erskine Hazard, who manufactured wire and nails from iron, needed coal.

They learned of the success of a Welshman who developed hot-blast iron making. They traveled to Wales to sign David Thomas to a five-year contract, and brought him to Pennsylvania to oversee the construction of an anthracite furnace.

In 1818, they bought the Summit Hill quarry. But the problem still was how to get the coal to market.

They founded the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company and created one of America’s first industrial and transportation networks, which led to an industrial boom across Pennsylvania and the Northeastern United States.

We see a lock tender’s house that was built in 1928 to replace one that burned – the new house was the only lock tender’s house with indoor plumbing and electricity.

This lock had a new gear system that even a young person could operate, so the father (who would have earned $8/month, low even for those times) could take a cash job in one of the many mills or furnaces in the area. The lock had to be manned from 3 am to 11 pm, so this was a family enterprise. The mother could sell or barter with the canal boat families – at this lock, known as a “laundry lock” the woman would do the canal boat family’s laundry. She would also keep chickens and vegetables.

“There was an economy of people who lived and worked on the canal, separate from anthracite. Boats were crewed by families.

“Sailors had poor reputation and White was Quaker and wanted ethical people, sober and honest. So he recruited married men. They didn’t want to be away from their families from March to November, so they brought them on the boat. Whether provided own or leased from Lehigh Coal & Navigation – were families.

“The father of the family (the only one who legally could sign a lease) was the captain, kept records, leased the boat, bought the mules ($20) on time; the wife helped with steering and homemaking. Kids as young as six would be responsible for caring for the mules. Younger children were tied to the boat so they couldn’t fall over.”

She demonstrates how they would blow a conch shell to alert the lockmaster, who would have been on duty 18 hours a day.

“It’s easy to romanticize life on the canals, but it was difficult, uncomfortable.”

This canal was operated until 1942; the Delaware until 1932; there were sons, grandsons and great grandsons of canal boat captains.

“It was a way of life. People stuck with it.”

Here at Hugh Moore Park was the site of an industrial furnace. By the time of the Civil War, half of iron in the United States came from Lehigh Valley.

Hugh Moore made his fortune manufacturing Dixie Cups. He bought this property and found out it came with the disused canal.

I get to tour the National Canal Museum, which has stayed open late for us.

The National Canal Museum was originally housed in a Crayola factory building; it was relocated to the Hugh Moore Park in 2006 with a National Science Foundation mission to provide a STEM curriculum to school children – the museum is loaded with interactive exhibits and experiments.

“Canals are perfect for these lessons – it’s the last transportation system using simple machines and human and animal power (mules).”

The Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor interprets this fascinating period of American history in the park through tours of the National Canal Museum and rides on the 110-passenger Josiah White II canal boat. The National Canal Museum is open seasonally, from June until October. Hands-on exhibits highlight 19th century canal life and technology. During our visit, we saw its special exhibition, Powering America: Pennsylvania’s Anthracite Railroads.

As spartan as our first night’s campsite was on a baseball field in Jim Thorpe, Hugh Moore Park in contrast feels luxurious, especially with access to the facilities in the museum (in addition to actual bathroom rooms) and one of the workers, has offered to stay inside and open it up for us during the night .

We also have a delicious catered dinner and breakfast around the museum before setting out on our third day’s ride, which will take us 38 miles but 242 years back in time to Washington Crossing State Park, where we will camp for two nights, and find ourselves immersed in the story of the American Revolution.

Just before we cross the Delaware to Frenchtown on the New Jersey side, we see a picturesque red wooden bridge over the canal. Frenchtown, where they have arranged for a bike corral while we enjoy the restaurants and shops, is very charming. I munch on the artisanal cheese and bread I purchased beside the water before setting out for the rest of the ride.

This part of the ride is along the sensational Delaware-Raritan Canal trail (one of my favorite trails, a particularly gorgeous section is from Princeton University north). We cross back to Pennsylvania at Lambertville into New Hope, another picturesque village. We are on our own for dinner tonight and many will bike back into New Hope from our campground at Washington State Crossing Park.

During the ride, I rehash what I learned at the National Canal Museum and wonder, “What did these families do for the rest of the year when the canals were closed? It bothers me that these families made so little money ($8/month) for such long days, they had to work extra jobs, even after all the members of the family also worked, when owners became richest people in the world.

How did Benjamin Franklin calculate that mules could pull a floating barge carrying 235 tons? How did they calculate the 6 foot draft for the canal boats to carry 90 tons? By formula or by trial & error? What if a boat had different dimensions? I wonder if the STEM curriculum at the National Canal Museum would answer these questions.

Here’s another important lesson from our immersion into this National Heritage Corridor: The change in ecology necessitated changes in the economy and technology (an example of how history matters.) Americans were always moving, migrating to take advantage of new industry, new technology, new economy, new opportunities, sometimes forced by changes in the environment. These canal towns, factory towns, mill towns arose because of coal and steel and many were ruined with the change in fortunes. Today, climate change, global warming is changing ecology again, forcing new changes in the economy, in technology, in society and in where and how we organize our communities. It’s very much how the canal towpath, originally devised to transport the coal which replaced wood, is repurposed for recreation and wellness, revitalizing the local economy.

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a nationwide network of trails from former rail lines and connecting corridors; it advocates for its 160,000 members and supporters, 31,000 miles of rail-trails and multi-use trails, and more than 8,000 miles of potential trails waiting to be built, with a goal of creating more walkable, bikeable communities in America. RTC offers TrailLink, a free service that lets you access RTC’s 30,000 miles of trail maps and itineraries and downloadable mobile app.

Fall is a superb time to bike some of the phenomenal multi-purpose trails repurposed from rail lines and canal tow paths.

This year, I became acquainted with one of the best in our area – the Delaware-Lehigh Trail just across from New Jersey in Pennsylvania, a 165-mile long trail that follows the Delaware Canal State Park and the Delaware Lehigh National Heritage Corridor. The trail was featured in this year’s Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s Sojourn, an annual multi-day supported biking/camping trip. The itinerary included riding a portion of one of my favorite trails on the planet, the Delaware-Raritan on the New Jersey side of the river.

Rails-to-Trails has offered these supported Sojourn biketours annually since 2002 to showcase repurposed rail trails and highlight the need to advocate for future projects. These trips are incredibly popular and the 300 of us on this year’s trip were saddened to learn that this Sojourn would be the last, because RTC will be focusing on advocacy and leave such organized bike tours to local organizations. Appropriately, the focus of the last Sojourn was also the trail for its first.

The Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L) follows the Delaware and Lehigh Canals and the old Lehigh Valley Railroad as it stretches through five counties, from the city of Wilkes-Barre in the mountainous coal region of northeastern Pennsylvania, to historic Bristol borough, along the Delaware River near Philadelphia.

Congress established the Heritage Corridor in 1988 at a time when the region was economically depressed with the collapse of coal and steel industry that had birthed these communities – the mining towns, factory and milltowns – to begin with.

With 86 of the D&L Trail’s 165 miles located within two state parks (Lehigh Gorge and Delaware Canal), the advocates to create the trail out of disused towpath had a jumpstart to connect people to the region’s story—one of innovation, conservation and industrialization.

About 92 percent of the D&L Trail is built and the goal is to connect all 165 miles by 2022. Three gaps will have been closed in 2018, including the opening of the $4.1 million Mansion House Bridge across the Lehigh River at Jim Thorpe (we get to participate in the opening ceremony and are among the first to cross), a road/railroad crossing at Middleburg Road in Luzerne County and a connector in Delaware Canal State Park at Tyburn Road in Bucks County.

These trail projects inspire local groups, breathing new life into the small downtowns along the corridor. Three regional revitalization efforts in particular: a 2004 move to greener programming; a 2005 Superfund reclamation project at Lehigh Gap Nature Center (which we visit); and Tales of the Towpath, an educational curriculum that now has 80 schools participating, which we get to sample at the National Canal Museum at Hugh Moore Park in Easton. And all along the way, we get to see participants in the Get Your Tail on the Trail wellness program who so far have logged more than 3 million miles.

As we, the beneficiaries of all this effort, appreciate over the course of our Sojourn, the trail showcases and immerses us into two significant revolutions in American history: the American Revolution (particularly when we get down to our most southerly point, Washington Crossing) and the Industrial Revolution. All along our route, which follows the canals built to transport anthracite coal from the mines to the markets, we see the markers and remnants amidst a beautiful setting.

Indeed, for me, the big surprise was seeing remains of the historic canal, the locks and gates, dams and lockmaster houses all along the ride.

Here we see the underpinnings, the infrastructure of the Industrial Revolution, which enabled the United States to ascend as a world power. Yet, from where we are on the trail alongside the canal with trees on one side, in a more natural state, except when we come upon long-shuttered steel mills that now seem like oversized sculpture.

A Soggy Day One

We meet up at Hugh Moore Park in Easton, Pennsylvania, (which we learn is land donated by the man made rich through the manufacture of Dixie Cups) where we park our cars and register. Interestingly, we will be returning here to camp the next night.

Rain starts just as we board the buses that take us an hour and a half to the start of the D&L trail near the quaint mountainside community of Glen Summit. But instead of stopping as forecast, the drenching rain continues on, and on, and on, throughout the day and into the night – almost 24 hours before it stops. I’ve never been outside in the rain for a full 24 hours before.

We set out on the ride – 160 miles over the course of five days – at the highest, steepest part of the trail, literally in the mountains where anthracite coal was mined. The trail becomes muddy and slick in the steady rain. I make myself feel comfortable with the feeling of slipping, but soon enough, the trail flattens out. The trail is surprisingly still solid enough to keep the tires from sinking or catching.

But we miss the gorgeous views for which this part of the trail is renowned.

I am loving the new poncho that I bought at the Bike Expo before the NYC 5 Boro Bike Tour, but thinking about having to set up my new REI tent in the rain which I have never done before, kicking myself that I didn’t use the Comfy Camper service (closest thing to glamping) so that my tent would be up, with an air mattress, when I arrived.

Instead of just enjoying the scenery and the thrill of biking downhill, this becomes an interesting physical and mental challenge that tests character, an adventure in overcoming obstacles, that when it is accomplished, changes you because you know you have done it and can do it– a value of a biking/camping trip in itself.

We ride along the river and see people out there in canoes and kayaks having a rollicking good time – clearly a great day for a waterborne activity.

This first day, we bike 35 miles southeast along the rushing Lehigh River, passing the most rugged and natural landscape of the ride – 800-foot hillsides of the Lehigh Gorge. At Moosehead Lake there are the remnants of highlift locks that were part of the Lehigh Canal’s Upper Grand Navigation.

Even this grey day cannot mar the beauty of the waterfalls we come upon, particularly Buttermilk, which cascades down in tiers.

Jim Thorpe, PA

We bike to the quaint town of Jim Thorpe, which (we discover), because of its steep hillsides, narrow streets, and terraced gardens is known as the “Switzerland of America.” I think of it as the San Francisco of Pennsylvania.

Our campsite is on a baseball field literally a 1.5 mile hike up a steep winding narrow road from the center of this charming town, pushing our bikes up (it’s only about half-mile walk back down along a steeper route). The rain is unfortunate because unlike most campgrounds on these trips, the only cover are a couple of dugouts that we have commandeered to stow our stuff (one woman has set up her tent inside one), but no pavilions.

I overcome one of my anxieties, setting up my brand new tent in the rain, fortunately, which has abated to more of a drizzle.

We stand outside in the rain waiting out turn for the shower truck to clean off the mud before walking back down into the town for dinner (tonight’s dinner is on our own).

The town of Jim Thorpe is absolutely charming even in this weather that has many of us buying up sweatshirts and sweatpants and even taking lodging in one of the many charming inns and guesthouses instead of camping out.

I am invited to join some new friends from the Sojourn I meet on the walk down for dinner at the Molly McGuire pub-style restaurant, which I learn is named for the Molly McGuires, labor agitators who were executed here (you can visit the Old Jail).

I stroll around awhile – struck by the many American flags and other patriotic displays, and in one of the charming historic inns, I find a poster of Jim Thorpe.

Established in 1818 as Mauch Chunk, which means “Mountain of the Sleeping Bear,” the name the Lenni Lenape Indians gave to the nearby mountain, it was later renamed for an Oklahoma-born Native American, Olympic hero, Jim Thorpe, who is buried there. Thorpe was born in Oklahoma in 1888 and raised on the Sac and Fox Reservation and had never set foot in the borough. But Patsy Thorpe, Jim’s third wife, cut a deal with two struggling towns in Pennsylvania, that if they would merge and rename themselves Jim Thorpe and build a memorial to honor him, she would present them his remains for burial.

Here, entrepreneurs led by Josiah White formed the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company in the 1820s (we can still see the brick building), which shipped tons and tons of anthracite coal and other goods to market via the Lehigh and Delaware Canals which they constructed. The town grew in importance when it was named Carbon County’s seat in 1843.

I explore this charming town before taking one of the shuttles the organizers have arranged for us to ferry us back up to the campground.

I am comfortable in my tent despite the rain which continues to fall, At 1:45 am, I hear the rain abating, so I race to the bathroom and get back to tent just in time for the rain to start up again. It stops in the early morning, so I rush to take down the tent before it rains again.

This morning’s breakfast as been arranged in a restaurant a short walk from the campsite.

I remember that they have arranged for us to have a guided tour of the Asa Packer Mansion (before the bridge dedication) and I race over there.

Asa Packer Mansion

Two things stand out as I regard the exquisite decoration and furnishings in the Asa Packer Mansion in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, a charming town on the Delaware-Lehigh trail: the house, which dates from 1861, was vacant from 1912 to 1954, but never disturbed, never vandalized, never burgled despite the fantastic riches it contained; and Asa Packer, who I had never heard of before, was a rags to riches American Dream come true story, who became one of the richest people in the world (Queen Victoria even gave him a table which we see in the house), but was always beneficent to his workers (he built housing for them and paid in cash from a strongbox), founded Lehigh University (was originally for boys who attended tuition-free), hospitals. In fact, everything that he built is still in existence and used for good purpose. Cornelius Vanderbilt hated him because Packer, an intensely religious man, made the miser look bad.

The mansion, built in 1861 by Philadelphia architect, Samuel Sloan, and containing the original furnishings and exquisite architectural details, is spectacular in its own right.

The mansion was constructed over a span of two years and cost a total of $14,000 dollars. Topped by a red-ribbed tin roof and a central cupola, or belvedere, the home was built over a cast iron frame and consists of 3 stories, 18 rooms and approximately 11,000 square feet of living space.

The furnishings are exquisite – a “Mermaid” chandelier, an important grandfather clock by Bailey Bay Banks & Biddle of Philadelphia, a table that was a gift of Queen Victoria. The mansion had gasoliers (capable of both electric lights, which was new, and gas) and a self-cleaning stove. But out of all this splendor, there is a “settler bench,” dating from the 1700s, that seems out of place: Asa kept it as a reminder of where he came from.

The mansion is spectacular enough, but what fascinated me is the story of Asa Packer, one of the early Industrial Revolution millionaires (he became one of the richest people in the world), but who never forgot his humble beginnings, acted honorably to his workers, antagonized the likes of the cheapskate Cornelius Vanderbilt, and whose beneficence created many important institutions that are still operating today, including Lehigh University (which was tuition free when it opened) and St. Lukes Hospital, because there weren’t any hospitals in the area. He made considerable donations to the Gothic Revival St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in downtown Jim Thorpe. “Everything he built is still operating,” the docent tells me.

The mansion – in contrast to Cornelius Vanderbilt II’s Breakers mansion in Newport – is a testament to Asa Packer’s humanism: he kept a safe from which he would pay workers’ wages and from the mansion you can look out on row houses on Ray Street that he built for workers; he built an entire new wing on the mansion and hung gold wallpaper (literally gold) for his 50th wedding anniversary gala at a time when few people lived long enough to celebrate a golden anniversary. He took in two orphan girls who became cooks – their rooms were actually quite splendid (especially compared to the servants’ quarters at The Breakers); the butler’s room had a copy of Lincoln’s bed and was where the son, Harry, would stay when the Bishop visited. (Just next door to the Asa Packer Mansion is the Harry Packer Mansion which was a wedding present; the Victorian mansion is also a jewel, indeed it was the model for Disney’s Haunted Mansion; today, it is an inn and hosts murder mystery weekends and wine tasting events.)

Born in Mystic, Connecticut, Asa Packer (1805-1879) left home when he was 17, setting out on foot to Brooklyn, Pennsylvania where he apprenticed as a carpenter to his cousin, Edward Packer. In 1828, he married Sarah Minerva Blakslee (1807-1882) and the couple tilled a farm they rented from Sarah’s father. But after four years, they were just as poor as when they started. So hearing that men were needed to captain coal barges on the Lehigh Canal, Asa traveled to Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, in the winter of 1832. He used his skill as a carpenter to build and repair canal boats. He resettled his family in Mauch Chunk and became the owner of a canal boat that carried coal to Philadelphia, then opened his own firm, A. & R. W. Packer, which built canal boats and locks for the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company.

He tried to get the company to build a railroad, but was refused. So, in October 1851, risking financial ruin, Asa purchased nearly all the controlling stock and interest for the unfinished Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad (later known as the Lehigh Valley Railroad). By November, 1852, he expanded the railroad from Mauch Chunk to Easton, Pennsylvania, in exchange for the company’s stocks and bonds, and later into New York State.

He became the third richest person in the world and parlayed his business success into political success, serving asja Judge, a state representative, a two-term Congressman (1853-7), and challenged Ulysses S. Grant for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1868. He narrowly lost election to become Pennsylvania’s Governor in 1869.

The Packers settled in their Italianate Villa in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania in 1861 and on January 23, 1878, Asa and Sarah celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a fantastic gala (a newspaper printed in gold described it, and the man who performed their wedding attended). Asa died just 18 months later. For all his success, their life together was marked by tragedy. Daughters, Catharine, Malvina and Gertrude all passed away before the age of three. Lucy Eveline (1832-1873), Robert Asa (1842-1883) succumbed to pneumonia. Harry Eldred (1850-1884) passed away from cirrhosis of the liver (the mansion next door was built for him and is operated as an inn today). Mary Hannah (1839-1912), was the last of their children to pass away; she was supposed to sail on the Titanic, but got sick in 1912; she was legally blind when she died.

“Asa never fully forgot his humble beginnings, his generous deeds spoke for him. A philanthropist throughout his lifetime, Asa gave $33 million to the town of Mauch Chunk and the Lehigh Valley. At the time of his passing, Asa retained an estate valued at $55 million.”

Asa’s daughter, Mary Packer Cummings, who moved into her mother’s bedroom when she got sick, inherited the mansion and estate as the last surviving child of seven (becoming the second richest person in the world after the Queen of England). When Mary died in 1912 (the calendar on the desk is from 1912); she bequeathed the home and all its contents to the Borough of Mauch Chunk as a memorial to her father and his accomplishments. But the house remained shuttered from 1912 to 1954, until the Bear Mountain Lions became trustees and reopened the mansion to the public in 1956. Remarkably, the true testament to Asa Packer and his family is that in all that time the mansion was vacant, with all these priceless antiques inside, it was never vandalized or burgled.

“Robert, the only grandchild who survived, didn’t want the house after Mary died,” the docent relates. “Robert’s great granddaughter and her daughter came on tour once,” she recalled.“

This quaint village of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania is actually a hub for many marvelous natural and historic attractions including the Harry Packer Mansion; the Old Jail Museum (where the Molly McGuires were jailed; Cell 17 with its mysterious handprint on the wall, under the gallows on which seven of the accused Molly Maguires were put to death, and down into the eerie dungeon); the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway, the St. Mark’s Church, Historic Stone Row, the Mauch Chunk Opera House, Anita Shapolsky Art Center, Mauch Chunk Museum and Old Jail Museum, plus wineries, distilleries (Big Creek Vineyard and Stonekeep Meadery), biking, hiking and rafting (PoconoBiking.com, PoconoWhitewater.com, Adventurerafting.com.

There are a score of historic bed-and-breakfasts, inns and guesthouses.

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a nationwide network of trails from former rail lines and connecting corridors; it advocates for its 160,000 members and supporters, 31,000 miles of rail-trails and multi-use trails, and more than 8,000 miles of potential trails waiting to be built, with a goal of creating more walkable, bikeable communities in America. RTC offers TrailLink, a free service that lets you access RTC’s 30,000 miles of trail maps and itineraries and downloadable mobile app.

The United Nations has declared June 3rd World Bicycle Day in recognition of the positive impact bicycles have on human health and the environment. Not to mention biking immerses you in the life around you; you see the world at a pace slow enough to really see without a window to separate you, fast enough to see a lot, and you can stop where you want and really smell the roses, even chat with a local. You become a mobile ambassador of mutual understanding.

With cycling growing in popularity worldwide, this is a good time to showcase but a few of the finest bicycle tours available.

Bike from Paris to St. Petersburg: Ride & Seek’s “Napoleon Expedition” extends the length of Europe into the cultural heart of Russia following in the footsteps of Grande Armée. (https://rideandseek.com/tour/napoleon-paris-to-saint-petersburg/)

The recently held TD Five Boro Bike Tour of New York City, the largest noncompetitive cycling event in North America which cuts off participation at 32,000, is preceded by a two-day Bike Expo, when bikers can take advantage of discounts and giveaways by scores of bike, biking gear, and be introduced to bike tour companies and destinations from Quebec in Canada, to Taiwan, as well as special biking events through such groups as the World Association of Cycling Events (www.wacebike.com)

There is a new online biking trip planner for the state of Maine, organized by the Bicycle Coalition of Maine, various biking groups and clubs (www.bikemain.org/wheretoride), as well as Maine’s annual 8-Day Bike Maine trip with 450 riders going 320 miles (2018 is fully booked). There’s also the Bold Cost Scenic Bikeway, 211 miles of low-traffic, on-road riding; you can get detailed online and printable maps, GPS data, and local information to organize a self-guided ride (BikeBoldCoast.com)

Also, a 45-day cross-country bike tour, from San Diego, California to St. Augustine, Florida, with luxury accommodations (none of this camping stuff), fine dining, for $13,000, through Cycle of Life Adventures (they also have less ambitious itineraries). (cycleoflifeadventures.com, 303-945-9886)

One of my favorite bike tours because of the sheer number of interesting sites, sights, scenery is the annual Cycle the Erie Canal ride, which travels 400-miles, from Buffalo to Albany, following the Erie Canalway. The ride offers 400 miles and 400 years of history. This year’s, the 20th annual ride, is scheduled July 8 – 15, 2018 (www.ptny.org/canaltour).

This summer, I have bike tours planned with Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, a nonprofit which uses an annual Sojourn trip as a fundraiser for its advocacy of reclaiming and preserving unused rail lines for greenways. This year’s Sojourn travels 160-miles along the Delaware and Lehigh trail (D&L Trail) in Pennsylvania (railstotrails.org).

Also, I have back-to-back bike tours set through one of our favorite bike tour companies BikeTours.com: the first is a weeklong self-guided bike tour from Venice to Trieste to Istria; then I will link up with a week-long guided bike tour of Slovenia. These are just two of Biketours.com’s amazing catalog of 200 guided and self-guided trips in 33 European countries at excellent value.

Stony Brookside, Long Island’s First Bed-and-Bike Inn

How about a biking weekend in the East End? Take your bike on the Long Island Railroad and come out to Stony Brookside, what may be Long Island’s first bed-and-bike inn.

Located in the historic district of Stony Brook Village, about 90 minutes from New York City, the Stony Brookside Bed & Bike Inn, which opened in 2016, is a colonial revival built in 1941 and designed by renowned architect Richard Haviland Smythe. The Inn has an artistic flavor and is decorated with pieces of original artwork by family members including artist Carol Buchman and a chandelier created from reused bicycle parts by artist Carolina Fontoura Alzaga. The offers a beautiful breakfast room, library, three bedrooms with views of the Stony Brook Mill Pond or the Stony Brook village, and a backyard.

Guests have access to the breakfast room stocked with refreshments, a full living room, refrigerator, bicycle storage, on-site parking and the use of its new outdoor Yoga platform. Individual and group Yoga classes available upon request.

There are many options for destinations within riding distance of the Inn – historic sites, wineries (local or the North Fork Wine Trail), Shelter Island, the Hamptons & South Fork, local festivals, hidden beaches, musical events. Shuttle service can be arranged.

The inn can create a self-guided route based on your interest, goal and skill level, and will supply a Garmin GPS loaded with your route for your day’s bike tour. There are several loops that start and end at the Inn that give you the option to do one or more or call it a day – your choice.

Or you can join a custom and individualized guided tour of your choice. Whether your goal is to train, sightsee, or have knowledgeable company along with you for the ride, we can lead you through the most scenic and historic of routes in the area.

Bring your own bike, use one of the inn’s road bikes available to guests, or rent a bike from the local shop, Campus Bicycle (guests get a discount). You can also rent a Big Cat electric bicycle (this should be done in advance).